Mastodawn

What kind of privacy and curation features would you like to see in fediverse software? #fediverse #fedidev #FediDesign #fediux

Masanori Ogino 𓀁 Sep 22, 2024

Thanks to everyone commented here or wherever, the final text of postmarketOS leaflet / handout / brochure / flyers / (do you know any other names for this kind of thing?) was just committed to the official artwork repository! I hope some of you will find a copy at your favorite events and enjoy reading it!

#postmarketOS #mobilelinux #linuxmobile #fedidesign

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Masanori Ogino 𓀁 Sep 20, 2024

Still drafting...

#postmarketOS #mobilelinux #fedidesign

Masanori Ogino 𓀁 Sep 18, 2024

I am drafting a handout of postmarketOS for IRL events.

#mobilelinux #postmarketOS #fedidesign

Fedo ¶May 23, 2024

Fedi Guide mascotte in the making
They’re called Fedi and they’re going to be the guide through the Fediverse
#toTheFediverse #FediDesign

Fedo ¶May 20, 2024

#Fediverse devs and designers, please help a graphic designer with fonts 🙏
(even a boost can help)

As someone might already know, I'm building a graphic design project involving Fediverse onboarding, it's going to be a website where I try, as a designer, to find the right communication approach to help people to approach the Fediverse

Fonts are quite important in graphic design, however in this specific context the license and source of the font is something I should care about, since I'm basically trying to make a contribution to the open web. Of course, design schools rarely teach the good practices in the foss context, so I really don't know where to start. For example, are "open source fonts" a thing? After all they're basically vector files, so the content of the file is accessible by default, but maybe I'm just misunderstanding the concept.

For know I'm just aware the some typefaces are released under the OFL license and many online font libraries give access to a ton of those fonts. Google fonts is of course the most known one, however using a Google font goes on the opposite direction of the project mission.

As devs and designers, how do you choose and use fonts respecting the principles of the open web?

Thanks a lot ✨

#FediDesign #Design #GraphicDesing #FediHelp #OpenSource
#toTheFediverse

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Fedo ¶May 17, 2024

On there previous posts I tried to create a map of the existing approaches of "branding" in the context of the Fediverse.

It is important at this point to consider the role of branding in a communication strategy. Fediverse is not a corporation nor a single entity, it is in fact a collective movement. How is it possible to build a effective strategy of communication, which is essential to make the Fediverse more accessible to more people and at the same time merge a multitude of different opinions and points of view from the Fediverse users into a single and universally recognizable identity?

@hamishcampbell talked a lot about branding in the Fediverse in a thread on Social Hub

It is important to note that branding can serve different purposes for different organizations. In the context of the #fediverse, the use of branding can be seen as a way to assert control and ownership over the platform and its content. This can be problematic as it can stifle community participation and decision-making.
One potential solution to this issue could be to shift the focus from project branding to instance branding. Giving more control over decisions to the communities that are using and running the instance, rather than leaving it in the hands of the developers/funders.Strong branding in #openweb codebases can create a barrier for communities to adopt and customize the technology for their clective use. It can limit the ability for different communities and groups to collaborate and share resources. A more community-driven approach, where branding is minimized and customization is made easy, would allow a more inclusive and decentralized ecosystem to develop. This is important for the growth and sustainability of the #fediverse.I think this thread make easier to understand the difference between the adoption of a common symbol like the Fedivers pentagon and Branding communication operated by Mastodon or Framasoft
As developers formalize a strong branding identity fro their softwares and platforms, the heterogeneous nature of the Fediverse fades away and the software becomes the entity the overshadows instances and communities.
On the other hand, discussions about decentralized social networks citing the Fediverse over single platforms better highlight the open nature of the network, and people using different platforms use the pentagon to express connection with people on the outside

I've seen branding into the fediverse used at very different scales.

Single instances often do this, they often even make custom visual identities to better communicate their idea of social interaction, it is quite common in themed instances and it usually good for communities looking for a place where they feel comfortable in being open about their identities.

As codebases, it is also used by suppliers of multiple federated services as a way to create ecosystems inside the federation, in this way a user joining a Mastodon instance is then lead to other services form the same provider, for example a Nextcloud server, a Pixelfed instance or anything else. This serves the purpose of easing the onboarding of users who were initially attracted by mastodon to the entire Fediverse, but it can possibly become a threat to decentralization as single entities gain more and more influence on bigger parts of the network.

Personally I find visual identities as an important tool for accessibility, which is not only about affordances but involves cultural aspects too. In a society so overwhelmed by Centralised Social Networks and capitalistic dynamics it is important to guide new people who do want to join the communities on the Fediverse by presenting them an understandable idea of Federated network. Thus, a strong branding presence may be too reminiscent of a corporative entity and actually limit the freedom of expression of instances and communities

I think that any new visual solution can be considered effective if it is organically accepted by most of the communities. This is the case of the current pentagon logo, which is tolerated as an identity symbol because it communicate an idea but it doesn't impose a single identity, a single post of view or a single personality. Any new logo or identity in general will need to provide the same balance or the communities won't accept that

#toTheFediverse #FediDesign

BRANDING on the fediverse

Am thinking we need less BRANDING in #fedivers apps and more community look and feel in the #UX would be nice to have “wizard” to run to set this up and try and standardize all the fealds and images sizes, so it can be similar for each application. And yes, we need to talk about the #geekproblem to make this happen.

SocialHub

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Fedo ¶May 17, 2024

As said in the previous post, in 2020 @[email protected] created a thread on Social Hub as a way to invite people to propose new designs for the #fediverse logo

the resulting discussion highlighted some interesting points

The concept of network may be somehow misleading in the current logo, as the Fediverse is more like an archipelago of connections without an actual balance between them: some instances are more connected than others, and a pentagon with all the points connected would be an incorrect description then. A mesh would be more correct than a fully connected shape (quoting @humanetech)
Also the pentagram may be welcomed with mixed feelings by the mainstream audience, as this geometric figure have different meanings in different cultures, in particular Christian culture associate it with negative values.
Personally I agree with @drq who discussed in this thread about the need expression of a concept using visual and design boundaries over the desire to present a concept using literal meanings

It's worth mentioning the different proposal originated in the discussion.

I've found some activity by a user called Dick Smith Fair Go, there is something from this user cached online but their account seems inexistent, it was likely deleted from all the instances they used. What remains online is a quite productive activity of Fediverse logo proposals. A well documented is the FediOrigami proposal

Social icons on a website (or I2P eepsite) are often important to communicate where else we exist online. Previously, fedizens were left with two choices; use an inaccurate or deceptive icon based on a specific type of fediverse server, or a gaudy icon with negative connotations. Most chose the former, elevating one implementation of the social network, at the expense of ALL others. It created a false impression of fediverse's topology and had a negative effect on the fediverse generally.
Since Feb 2021, a supporters group in collaboration with FreedCreative and others, worked on a Fediverse icon. This is the result of much feedback, review and iteration.
This icon pack, called "#fediOrigami", is based on an origami boat turned on its side. The overlapping, semi-transparent "folds" are their own entities, but interact with each other to form an 'F' and also create a silhouette of part of a star. A star being an homage to the previous but seldom-used icon design (a connected five-pointed star).This design looks pleasing to look at, however I find it lacks the ability to communicate the nature of the Fediverse. It is introduced as a more correct depiction of the network than the pentacle logo, but in the end its meaning is way harder to get.
From a visual perspective it works better tho, being much more scalable and the areas are more proportionate, also it has a more organic design, I'm going to recognize these qualities while still considering this logo unfit to its aim.

@[email protected]'s proposal posted here is an interesting redesign/evolution of the current pentacle logo. It loses the direct reference to a network in favor of the reminiscence of a floral-like shape, as if it was an effort to add an element of organicity in a otherwise-static logo
Personally I like this direction of reiteration, as I think any possible new logo should be able to preserve and possibly highlight the human component of the Fediverse rather than the technical core, however also this proposal isn't as clear as the pentacle logo

@[email protected] acknowledged the limits of the pentacle design and proceeded to propose two notable proposals.
the first one is a direct redesign of the pentacle, re-shaping it as a mesh and introducing curved lines, resulting in a more chaotic symbol

The second one, posted in March 2024, uses a new approach which I find very interesting.
Here the connected pentacle-shaped network was kinda split in three stars, composing a network in their conjunction.
I still don't think it is somehow better that the pentagon, but this version looks quite modern and balances, more than all the other proposals I've seen.
Most of all, here the concept of network is understandable, but it gives the idea of a more complex nature of connection, showing hoe the network is actually composed of smaller elements, an the whole structure seems only a partial view of a much bigger pattern.

I'd also add that this logo contains the Diaspora's star key. If a logo like this one ends up being the symbol of the Fediverse, the very start key could become a metaphor of federation, it would be incredibly neat symbol

[thread continues]
#toTheFediverse #FediDesign

fediOrigami

The icon for Fediverse

Disroot Forgejo: Brace yourself, merge conflicts ahead.

Fedo ¶May 17, 2024

For my #Fediverse thesis, today's topic is about branding

As a graphic design my job is also about working with visual identities of brands, groups, entities and so on. It means I design visual communication so the identity of the author/object of the matter is both understandable and recognizable.

I must say, this seems incredible hard to do with the Fediverse.
Not only it is't owned by anyone, but it has some many different iterations in instances, softwares, protocols and communities that defining a whole identity for it will be always a limiting action.

However this didn't stopped the Fedi community to trying to find a common identity for the network.
I did a little research about it and here's what I've found

This appears to be one of the earliest symbols ever created to comunicate the structure specifically of the Fedivers's ancestor, StatusNet, and it was used to announce the Federated Social Web Summit in 2010

StatusNet Inc. and other social software developers will hold a one-day summit, the Federated Social Web Summit 2010, on July 18th, 2010 in Portland, OR, to coordinate the development of the federated social web. Participants in the invite-only meeting will discuss their current work on connecting social networks and plan future cooperation.
"Federation just means letting people on different social networks follow each other," says Evan Prodromou, CEO of StatusNet Inc. "There are dozens of businesses and Open Source projects working on the problem of social network federation. We want to make sure that people are working together so a robust, heterogeneous network-of-networks can emerge."The symbol represents a series of entities, rendered as disks with a dot in the center (I like to see those as tiny galaxies) connected in a mesh. I don't know about the green, I just suppose it's a popular color in the tech world, probably being the typical color of circuit boards and often of the early text-based interfaces

Still in 2010, Diaspora was developed in New York. Unfortunately it's hard to find the original logo, however here's the brand resources of the current Diaspora's visual identity and seems like Diaspora was worded as Diaspora* since 2011, so I guess the logo didn't change much.

The logo is very interesting. Dispora uses a different protocol than ActivityPub but it's still part of the Fediverse. They choose to represent the decentralisation with the concept of "diaspora", both with a asterisk key, reminding a point with many connections around, and with a dandelion, with the seeds spreading around referring to the decentralized structure of the network. I like how coincise yet meaningful it is, however it is very essential and lacks a more emotional character

[thread continues]
#toTheFediverse #FediDesign

Federated Social Web Summit 2010 Announced | StatusNet

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Eudaimon ꙮ Mar 23, 2024

Oops, I forgot to add a few tags to the previous post: #FediLogo #FediDesign #FediverseIcon #FediArt

(I've also edited it!)